S.L.S. Crew Log, 5/4/3302 - Thoughts on Halsey, 'Creators'
04 May 2016Ardos Hammur
Begin Entry5/4/3302 - 18:15
Sentinel Crew Quarters, Magnus Gateway
Usr: Cmdr Ardos
I've been dreaming a lot lately, more than usual, probably because I've been on station for too long. I don't dislike it, the dreams are usually brief and bring back memories of childhood on Mars, family I haven't seen since they passed, or trips I've been on since my time with the Navy. All of these are good, it's nice to know that after all these jumps and exposure to rads from ship reactors and stars that I haven't started to lose my mind yet. For some reason sleep in the black is just that; maybe it's how quick the sleep is or that we can never seem to relax enough to be comfortable.
There is a recurring dream I'm having though, one that I can easily trace back to the trip out to Merope and the landing at that organic structure. It began as a faint memory, fuzzy despite how much time we spent less than fifty yards from it collecting data, and became this very vivid dream about the thing coming to life and reaching to the stars with these black tendrils. It reached and reached, grabbing at nearby planets and stars and spreading its dark grasp across neighboring systems and stars until even the core was as dark as the void. There is no sound, no awful screaming or growling like one would expect. There is no one who stands up to stop it. In my dream the crew and I watch it swallow our ship silently, as if we knew we had no choice and had to submit to this fearsome darkness. It ends just as quickly as it begins and I wake up in my bed drenched in sweat each time.
This is the fourth time I've awoken suddenly after this dream, each time it is getting more real. I've spoken with Myra and Ray about them, first worried that it could be a side effect of prolonged exposure to the thing but nether of them have had similar dreams. I've set an appointment to speak with the doc that was in the debriefing but it'll be a few days before he returns from Sanger and we have orders to ship out in the morning. So here I am telling a terminal how I feel in hopes that I can find a meaning between the lines. The news out of Azaleach didn't help, nor did the news that our own DSR pilots were being shot at by fanatics who did or did not want to find the 'creators' that Halsey saw.
There is something not right about that woman, she isn't the leader or woman she was when I served. Though I've never met her personally, these claims are very off-color for her and come at a strange time in history. Time on the Damocles has afforded me a way step outside human affairs and look back with an outsiders view. I see a strange timeline; mysterious artifacts found, leaders suddenly assassinated after years of tense peace, the discovery of alien organics where our artifacts are pointing, the sudden reappearance of a thought-dead president who immediately claims she met aliens. And now her pleading with explorers to bring exploration data to the place she died at so that she can prove they exist. It's all wrong, but I don't know how yet. I had hoped our trip to the region last week might shed some light on that but there was nothing notable there. Why did Halsey detour there? There are no surfaces that would hide a base or operations center, she must have detoured to meet with someone. That meeting in turn, got her killed.
This will likely sound crazy, but that woman isn't Halsey. That is a puppet or a shell, not the woman who was blown to pieces a year ago. Who is pulling the strings if that's the case? At first I thought it could be Hudson using her to generate fear to mobilize the war machine again but this even seems to elaborate for him. Is she one of 'them'? Do 'they' actually exist or is this a complicated political game?
I've filed papers with OpCom to take the Damocles out into the black again, this time into Alliance space. I've been researching some old stories and tales from back when my granddad flew with the Navy and decided to give some of these stories a chance to prove their worth. Ray and Myra seemed up for the trip, Everson is undecided though. I've also asked that escort pilot Dobson to join us on the Damocles, I think some time on board a science ship will give him a shot of culture he desperately needs. Who knows, maybe we will find some clues about this Halsey clone or if my dream really means anything. Worst thing I can find is that I'm losing my mind. Or that 'they' are real.
Log Transcription Terminated
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